Assessment and Feedback
| Date: | Monday, 15th April 2019 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 8.30am - 12.55pm |
| Where: | OGGB4 - Level 0 |
Innovative Learning and Teaching in the Business School is excited to announce the programme for our next learning and teaching symposium.
With the Teaching Forum’s focus on Assessment and Feedback, we have decided to go with this theme because the University has now approved its new Assessment (Coursework, Tests and Examinations) Policy and Procedures.
Speakers will be sharing innovations, ideas, solutions, and best-practices from their own experiences that relate in some way to any of the nine principles of assessment that underpin the new policy and procedures, which can be viewed here: Assessment 2020
See below for the programme including session summaries.
We’ll see you there!
Programme:
| Time | Session | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| 08:30 am 8.55 am | Registration Welcome | Professor Rod McNaughton - Deputy Dean Business School |
| 09:05 am | Happy students, Happy learners. | Mr Anuj Bhargava (FMHS) |
| 09:30 am | Perspectives from different Faculties on the new assessment policy: Panel session | Director of L&T (Business School) and Associate Deans of Art, Science, and EDSW |
| 10:10 am | The only difference between criticism and feedback is how you hear it. | Ms Dedre Van Zyl |
| 10:35 am | Morning Tea (25 minutes) | |
| 11:00 am | Mixing active learning with passive assessments is a recipe for disaster: A call to shift from theory consumption to theorization. | Dr Carlos Diaz Ruiz |
| 11:25 am | Tell me about my learning and I’ll tell you about your teaching: Learning analytics as teacher and student feedback | Dr Steve Leichtweis and Dr Marion Blumenstein |
| 11:50 pm | Nudge Nudge Wink Wink A Rubric say no more?! | Ms Una Lightfoot |
| 12:15 pm | Student perspectives on assessment and feedback: Student panel | Student panel |
| 12:55 pm | Close |
9.05am Happy students, Happy learner.
To get better engagement and participation of the students in the MBChB programme at the faculty of medical and health sciences, kuraCloud platform was piloted in 2017. This is an online, cloud-based blended approach that allowed us to rethink the learning objectives (1, 2) content (1), and constructive alignment with assessments (1, 3). Development of pre-lab activities, reflection exercises and self- assessed/self-directed assessments were key factors to the success of this pilot scheme (4). The presentation will cover aspects of effectiveness (from the staff and student perspective) of learning physiological concepts taught in these sessions and associated assessments using the blended learning approach that kuraCloud affords.
Mr Anuj Bhargava
Anuj has a background in clinical medicine and Pharmacology. He teaches quite extensively in stage II and III physiology undergraduate courses along with the clinical programmes.
His more recent interests include blended learning approaches and innovative ways of teaching undergraduate physiology. He describes himself as very friendly and is an “easy to reach” person. His other interests include running and contemporary visual arts.
9.30am Perspectives from different Faculties on the new assessment policy: Panel session
This panel session will focus on the University’s new Assessment (Coursework, Tests and Examinations) Policy and Procedures. Representatives from the Faculties of Arts, Business, Education and Social Work, and Science will discuss key challenges, and potential approaches to these challenges, in line with the need to successfully implement this policy for 2020.
Douglas Carrie (Director of Learning and Teaching, Business School; Duncan McGillivray, Associate Dean (Academic), Faculty of Science; Gail Ledger Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning), Faculty of Education and Social Work; and Dr Lindsay Diggelmann, Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning), Faculty of Arts.
10.10am The only difference between criticism and feedback is how you hear it
Designing an assignment which relates directly to a practical example which the students can expect to come across when they start their careers and providing meaningful feedback in an innovative way has been a cornerstone of the financial reporting course. Several of the students who are busy with part-time employment indicated that they came across clients for who this adjustment to the financial statements must be made, and therefore found the knowledge and application of this accounting standard tested in the assignment very helpful.
The feedback was given to the students by means of a video and voice recording. This consisted of a video of their report together with a voice recorded giving feedback on sections done well and providing constructive criticism on part of the report which could be improved upon. Overwhelming positive feedback was received from the students on this method of feedback.
Ms Dedre van Zyl
Dedre is a Professional Teaching Fellow (PTF) teaching courses in the Business Masters program. She is also a Chartered Accountant and a member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ).
10.35am Morning Tea (25 minutes)
11.00am Mixing active learning with passive assessments is a recipe for disaster: A call to shift from theory consumption to theorisation.
Assessments tend to reflect a consumption allegory of education in which researchers produce, teachers disseminate, and students consume theory. The problem is that these assessments defeat the strengths of active learning by focusing on how students consume content. To design better assessments, we draw from a century of experience in the case method, a pioneering form of active learning in business schools, to conceptualize the classroom as a place of theory co-creation. Empirically, the paper reports on an experimental learning initiative that reimagines the classroom as a place to re-produce management students as reflexive and theorising practitioners that can address complex problems.
Dr Carlos Diaz Ruiz
Lecturer at the Graduate School of Management at the University of Auckland and his primary areas of expertise are marketing strategy and consumer culture theory. Carlos holds a PhD from the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki, Finland, and appointed assistant professor at Kedge Business School Bordeaux, France. His industry experience includes marketing management at Mexicana Airlines and consumer insights specialist at Market Research IDM in Latin America.
11.25am Tell me about my learning and I’ll tell you about your teaching: Learning analytics as teacher and student feedback
Learning analytics (LA) tools are useful not only as a lens into student learning behaviours and engagement but also for teachers’ self-reflection and the effectiveness of course design. We will share our recent experiences of implementing OnTask in several large first-year courses. OnTask aims to optimise student success through the delivery of timely, personalised and actionable feedback. It enhances teacher-student connections in online environments and is especially useful in large class settings. Semi-structured interviews with teachers and student support staff and focus groups with students revealed a number of themes. Overall, teachers were surprised at the potential LA holds for gaining a more nuanced understanding about their students’ needs and struggles while students valued early outreach and being prompted to improve their learning. Our recent findings gave valuable insight into the course design and opportunities for re-design.
Steve Leichtweis & Marion Blumenstein both work in the Centre for Learning and Research in Higher Education (CLeaR) where they provide professional and academic development for university staff focusing on learning analytics as well as supervise postgraduate students. Steve is the Head of eLearning [MB1] and supports the effective and pedagogically appropriate use of technology for learning and teaching. Marion is a Senior Lecturer and in addition to her work in CLeaR also teaches a research methods paper in the Bioscience EnterpriseProgramme in the Faculty of Science
11.50am Nudge Nudge Wink Wink A Rubric say no more?!
With increasing pressure on tertiary teachers to achieve better results with students who have increasingly diverse learning needs, is the use of rubrics part of the answer? This presentation will discuss some of the research on the use of rubrics for feedback and assessment and the experiences of a Learning Designer exploring the use of rubrics with Academic staff in the GSM Taught Masters Programme
Una Lightfoot currently works as a Learning Designer in the GSM Taught Masters Programme. Prior to this position, she had an academic development/audit role at MIT (NZ) assisting tertiary teachers with programme and assessment design. This included leading a team of the design, development and implementation of online and blended delivery of both national and local tertiary teaching programmes. The coordination and teaching of a large variety of communication courses both for undergraduates and industry was also a feature of her early career.
12.15pm Student perspectives on assessment and feedback: Student panel
This will be an informal session with a student panel to find out what students think of assessment and feedback practices and processes in the Business School. Students will be given a list of questions to respond to based on their experiences with course assessment and feedback.
The audience is welcome to ask additional or follow up questions during the session.
The Learning Technology Round Table working group consists of six Professional Teaching Fellows: Margot Bowker from Marketing, Chris Clarke from Accounting & Finance, Qian Liu from ILT, Michelle Kilkolly-Proffit from MIB, Xingang Wangand from GSM, and Patricia Hubbard from GSM. We work together to organise and chair regular Learning Technology Round Table events in the Business School.
